Sunnyshore High
by endlesspath
Summary: So AU it's not funny. Peter tries to survive high school while dealing with abilities and puberty and girls, all the while solving mysteries a la Veronica Mars style around the stereotypical Sunnyshore High School.


Disclaimer: It was stolen, along with my dignity.

Summary: Peter tries to survive high school while dealing with abilities and puberty and girls, all the while solving mysteries a la _Veronica Mars_ style around the stereotypical Sunnyshore High School.

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"Pete, wake up! We're gonna be late!" My older brother Nathan yelled from downstairs, jerking me out of my little doze. I'd woken up about an hour earlier and had just been trapped in my overactive imagination since then – drifting out of consciousness and unconsciousness, but the entire time I was dreaming. I loved my dreams, even though they generally got me into trouble.

"Just a few more minutes, Nathan," I mumbled into my pillows, knowing full well that Nathan couldn't hear me. I just wanted to stay in my dreams. I had had my flying one again. It was kinda like falling out of my bed but instead of falling to the carpet, I floated up to the ceiling.

I groaned and rolled over, reaching out a hand to check my alarm clock. I'd set it for seven-thirty, but sometimes I dreamt through it—it happened more often then I'd care to admit. My eyes widened in annoyance when I finally saw the glowing red letters through my bleary eyes. "What the hell!" I yelled downstairs at Nathan. "It's seven! We don't have to leave till eight!"

"We have to pick up Claire!" Nathan shouted back. "By the time she gets her cheerleading ass out of her house it'll be way past eight!"

"Let her walk then!" I shouted tiredly, hiking my blankets up to my shoulder. Nathan was right about Claire, whatever time she said she was gonna be somewhere; she usually ended up being late. People usually ended up making allowances for her and her procrastinating butt.

"I'll make _you_ walk!" Nathan replied. "I'd rather be in the car with her anyway then with your complaining ass!"

It was that comment that actually made my body do what my mind wanted it to. Nathan really would leave me to walk. He'd done it before and he'd do it again. I rolled my eyes and flung back my covers, climbing out of bed and covering a yawn with my palm. I shuffled over and quickly pulled my curtains open, wincing as the sunlight filled my dark room.

I yawned again and glanced around my room. It was pretty ordinary, if a bit messy. . . Okay it's more than a bit messy. There's a small desk pushed against one of the walls with my computer positioned haphazardly on top. The desktop is by far the tidiest place in my room. Though the saying: 'A tidy desktop means a cluttered desk draw' applies to me. If Dad ever came more than halfway down the hallway and looked into my room. He'd yell at me and tell me how much that computer had cost and that I should take better care of it better than I did. But Dad never comes into my room, not for a long time.

My floor's a clutter of abandoned clothes and old school books, with the occasional forgotten magazine scattered through the mess. I don't really care about that though, but if Mom or Dad ever came up. I'd be forced to make the room spotless. Now that I think about it, my New Year's resolution was to clean my room. Oh well, still got like half a year left. I think Claire's procrastinating has been rubbing off on me.

I examined the desk while scratching my head. I'd have sworn that I'd left my journal there. I pulled open the desk draw on the off chance that I'd shoved it in there with everything else.

I frowned and pulled my clothes for the day out of my wardrobe. "Hey, Nathan!" I called downstairs as I hurriedly pulled a t-shirt over my head. "Have you been in my room?"

"Yeah," My brother shouted back. "I needed some reading material for breakfast!"

I swore and rushed out of my bedroom, half tripping over the jeans I was pulling on. I charged down the stairs, jumping down the last few steps when I heard Nathan's laugh coming from the kitchen.

"So I'm at the top of the social pyramid?" Nathan laughed as I burst into the kitchen. I watched; horrified as he turned his attention back to the journal as he read out the next few lines. "And he's practically the reason I wasn't bullied much during my freshman year. He's a cool brother—"

Nathan cut off as I made a valiant attempt to snatch the journal. "You're a pain in the ass!" I grunted.

"It says that too?" Nathan asked, looking back at the journal. "Oh, it does. Well, I'll take it as a compliment. Lawyers are meant to be a pain in the ass. All the good ones are."

I grunted again and managed to rip my journal from my brother's hands. "You're a dick!" I said as I clutched the journal tightly.

Nathan only shrugged and turned his attention back to his breakfast. We had to make our own breakfast every morning unless there was some special event and the chefs were cooking. We sometimes had cook for ourselves for lunch and dinner, but not usually.

"Your fly's undone, by the way," Nathan said as I turned back and began to make my way back to my room.

I shook my head and muttered some rude comments about Nathan under my breath. I forced myself to wait to check my zipper until I was safely up the stairs. I didn't want Nathan to have the satisfaction of seeing me rush to zip it up.

I closed my door when I finally stomped up to my room. I'd only been up fifteen minutes and Nathan was already pissing me off. I slammed the journal onto my desk and zipped up my fly. I breathed deeply for a second and tried to remember where the hell I'd shoved my bag at the end of my freshman year.

It didn't take me very long to find it. After digging around in my closet for a moment I pulled the backpack out with a victorious flourish. I didn't bother putting the discarded clothing and other junk back into the closet, I'd get to it eventually . . . I'm sure I would.

"Five minutes, Peter!" Nathan shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "I _will_ leave you behind if you don't hurry up!"

I grumbled under my breath and shoved my journal along with a pen into my bag quickly. I know I had a bag full of new books stashed somewhere in my room, but I didn't need them yet so there was no point in lugging them around all day. There was no bookwork on the first day; all the teachers did was talk.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and ran down the stairs, taking two at a time, and ran out of the front door just as Nathan was stepping out of it.

"Just in time," Nathan smirked and jingled his car keys in his hands. "Too bad you don't get shotgun."

I scowled but didn't react. Of course Nathan would want Claire in the front seat. He was star of Sunnyshore High's football team and Claire was a pretty cheerleader. Not that anything would ever happen between Nathan and Claire. He treated her like a younger sister, always teasing her almost as mercilessly as he teases me.

Nathan's car was his baby. He never let anyone else drive it. Mom and Dad got it for him when he turned eighteen. I never asked whether I'd get a car when I turned eighteen, but a part of me has always thought that I wouldn't. Nathan was the golden boy, and I was the failure. Nathan knew exactly what he wanted to do with his future and how he was going to do it. I didn't even know what subjects I was going to do this year.

I clambered into the backseat and leant my head against the window as Nathan started the car and drove off. I let my mind drift away and soon enough I was thinking about my dream from last night. What would it be like to fly? What would I do? How would other people react? Would I even show other people? I probably would, I don't think I could help myself. If I could fly it would be something that would make me different than everyone else. I'd show it off then fly away.

Suddenly something grabbed my nose and I sat bolt upright, blinking rapidly. I heard a soft giggle from the front seat.

"You're right, he _is_ out of it." Claire Bennet grinned cheekily at me and stuck her tongue out from between her teeth. "I guess I just don't have that much of an effect on him."

"Maybe he just doesn't find you attractive. God knows why." I couldn't see Nathan's face, but I could tell he had that smile on his face – the smile he always wore when he was up to no good.

"Is that it, Pete?" Claire pouted and she lowered herself slowly until I could only see her eyes above the car seat. She looked sad, but I knew Claire and I knew when she was playing around. "Don't you think I'm pretty?"

"I . . . ah. . . ." My mouth opened and closed. They always got me with stuff like this. Of course Claire was pretty, I thought she was _gorgeous_, but saying it was embarrassing, saying that anyone was attractive in front of those two was embarrassing. They always teased me mercilessly afterwards.

Claire giggled again and reached forward and ruffled my hair. "It's okay; you don't have to answer if you don't want to." And with that she turned around in her seat and began laughing at some joke Nathan told as he drove away from Claire's house and towards the school. Claire's house wasn't exactly big, not compared to my house; it was just a regular, two-story house in a regular cul-de-sac in a regular neighbourhood. And it was a good twenty minute drive away, had I really fallen asleep? I wasn't even tired – well at least not tired enough to drift off _that_ quickly.

Before long Nathan turned into Sunnyshore High School student parking. It was already filling quickly, but Nathan didn't have to drive around long before pulling into a park. I could see his football buddies crowding around the front entrance of the school, tossing around footballs and probably catching up on their summer breaks.

I climbed out of Nathan's car and swung my bag over my shoulder. Claire was already out of the car, but was bending through the window to retrieve her own bag. I tilted my head to the side as I looked her up and down, appreciating the low cut cheerleading uniform and the supple-looking body beyond. The red and black uniform reminded me of the ones from _Bring It On_. In fact Claire looked just like a cheerleader from out a movie.

"You guys all set?" Nathan asked suddenly. I jerked my eyes away from Claire and tried to stop the heat which was beginning to burn my cheeks. God I hope he hadn't seen!

"Yup," Claire smiled winningly as she straightened and slung her own bag across her shoulder. "Thanks for the ride, Nate." I only nodded.

"No problem, kiddo. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." And with that Nathan strode off, towards his friends.

I watched him leave for a few seconds and then turned towards Claire. I stiffened slightly when I saw her eyes focused on mine, her left eyebrow rising quizzically as she examined me.

"You've gotten taller over the summer." She smiled, breaking the uncomfortable tension as though it didn't even bother her. "Good for you." She never teased me unless Nathan was there, I don't know why, must be a chick thing I guess.

I shrugged my shoulders and grinned weakly. "I can't say the same about you."

Claire's mouth formed a playful "O" shape. Everything about Claire seemed playful. "Oh really?" she laughed. "It's like that is it?"

My grin widened and we fell into step as we began to walk towards our homeroom. We had the same homeroom last year and we'd probably have the same home when we graduated. Something about keeping as all together or something like that. I never really paid much attention to what the school did, I really didn't care.

"So how was your summer anyway?" Claire asked with a wide smile still on her face.

"It was okay, I guess. Played games, read books and slept." I shrugged my shoulders. I'd been bored out of my brains! "How about you? You and your family went to Orlando, right? Disneyworld?"

"Yeah it was good, but Dad was working while we were there, so. . ." Claire shrugged and smiled like it didn't bother her, but I could hear the change in her voice when she talked about her father. Her happiness for a moment sounded forced, not natural.

"You looking forward to the new year?" I thought it was best to change the subject. Family wasn't exactly the happiest subject for Claire. I never knew why. "Not many Sophomores make the cheerleading squad."

Now that brought a real smile to Claire's face. "I know, right?" She looked down at her uniform and breathed out happily. "I guess I just got lucky."

Silence fell between us as we entered the school building and began traversing the hallways and staircases towards our homeroom. It was so loud inside; I doubt we could have heard each other even if we had tried to speak. I walked without really paying attention to where I was going. I knew the way so well now that I didn't need to think about which way to walk. It was hard to believe that I used to get lost finding my way around this school.

We reached the homeroom after a few minutes navigating our way through the halls and different people and as soon as we stepped inside we went our separate ways. It was like we hadn't arrived together, but we had simply shown up at the same time. That's what people would assume anyway. It was the way things had always been between me and Claire.

I watched her walk towards her group of friends near the front of the classroom, while I made my way towards the back and took my usual seat by the window. She was showing off her uniform, seemingly unaware of the envious stares directed her way. Just like Claire.

I blinked and looked out of the window as the bell thundered throughout the building and grounds. And as it rang the people outside started moving inside.

The classroom door opened and I looked up, expecting to see Mr. Goodall stride through the door. He always arrived on time with the bell, always! It was just one of those things that set him apart from the other teachers. Mr. Goodall was fanatical about being on time, not a second too early and not a second too late.

As soon as Mr. Goodall walked through the door, the entire class settled into a comfortable silence and the few people standing quickly found seats.

"I trust you all had a good summer." Mr. Goodall smiled and sat down behind the wide desk at the front of the classroom and faced the class. "I'd love to trade stories, but we've gotta keep the ball rolling this morning. We've still got electives and schedules to sort out. I know, I know, not the most exciting stuff, but this is your future here, kids."

I looked back out the window and at the now deserted courtyard as Mr. Goodall began to call out the roll.

"Claire Bennet?"

"Yes." I heard Claire's voice pipe up. She always came first.

"Gabriel Gray?"

After a brief pause I heard Gabriel answer, but I didn't bother turning my head to look at him. Gabriel was thin and weedish, too tall for his body's own good. No one really talked to him, and he didn't have many friends. But I suppose the same goes for me as well, but there was just something off about Gabriel and I've never been able to put my finger on it.

I didn't pay attention to the list of names that were being called out after that, I could recognise the names, even though I was barely listening. It was just the same names on the same list. Of course there were a few new ones, there always were, but I'd learn them all eventually.

When Mr. Goodall called out my name, I barely murmured my response and went back to staring out the window.

"Jessica Sanders?"

A choked sob brought my head spinning around in surprise and my eyes fell on Niki Sanders. I've always thought Niki was hot, just as pretty as Claire, but the look on her face now wasn't attractive at all. I felt bad for thinking it, but it didn't make it any less true. Her eyes were puffy and red and her lips were quivering as though she was barely able to stop herself from breaking down in front of everyone.

She ran quickly out of the classroom and I knew my eyes weren't the only ones watching her leave. After a few seconds Mr. Goodall strode through the door after her and as soon as she left, the buzz of chatter filled the classroom like a swarm of bees. I felt bad for Niki, I would hate to have everyone talking about me like that.

I looked around the classroom, but I couldn't see Jessica's golden brown hair. Niki's sister wasn't there. Well, whatever happened, Niki sure was torn up about it.

I sighed and rested my chin on my palm, putting thoughts of Niki and her missing sister out of my mind.

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A/N: Ok, I know the high school scenario has been done a lot, not only just for Heroes, but in pretty much every fandom on fanfiction, I'll bet. But I've always wanted to try it, and parts of this chapter have been sitting around on my computer ever since Christmas '07. I'm trying to bring something original to the high school setting. This is my first time writing in first person, so I _should_ get better at it the more I write. It doesn't help that I'm pretty sure I don't have any books set in first person that I can read to show how someone else does it. This entire style of writing and the genre is waaay out of my comfort zone, but part of being a writer is trying and becoming familiar with new things.

Another thing, it should be obvious, but I'll just make sure I say it. This story is AU, its set in an alternate universe. I know that the characters are all different ages, but it couldn't really be a high school fic if they weren't all around about the same age. And in this story, Claire is not related to the Petrellis, it's just easier this way. Sure I could have made them cousins or whatever, but where's the fun in that? ;)


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